Improved car-coupling



UNITED STATES PATENT FFIGE] O. W. BALDWIN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS,ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, W. D. RICHARDS, AND W. E. RUSSELL.

IMPROVED CAR-COUPLING.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 57,618, dated August28, 1866.

Boston, county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented anew and useful Oar-Coupling and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad tothe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical andtransverse section, and Fig. 2 a front end view, of my invention. vFig.3 is a horizontal section, Fig. 4 a side view, and Fig. 5 a vertical andlongitudinal section, of the said invention. Fig.6 is a side view, Fig.7 an edge view, and Fig. 8 a a top view, of the revolving block, to behereinafter described.

In railway practice heretofore much annoyance and inconvenience, as wellas danger tohuman life, has been experienced in coupling together thedifferent cars of a train, from the fact that the brakeman or employ hasbeen obliged to go between the cars for the purpose of adjusting anddirecting the coupling-link, in order that it shall enter thelink-chamber of the approaching bumper, this being necessary for thereason that the bumpers of different cars are of varying heights. Toremedy this trouble various plans have been adopted, the one nowuniversally employed being a bent or crooked link which shall adaptitself to the varying heights.

The object of my present invention is to produce a self-acting couplingwhich shall accommodate itself or be easily, adjusted with respect tothe varying heights of the next adjacent orapproaching bumper, and whichshall avoid the necessity of the employ going between the cars, and thussave the loss of human life, which is now of frequent occurrence.

Other advantages incident to my invention will be hereinafter described.

In the drawings before referred to, A denotes the draw-bar, having itsforward end slotted or formed with two ears, a a, to receive betweenthem an oscillating balanced lever, B, the two being hinged together andconnected by a fulcrum-pin, b, which passes horizontally through them,as seen in the drawings.

The front portion, B, of the lever B forms the bumper, and has ahorizontal link-chamber, 0, opening in front by a flaring mouth.

Leading out of this linkchamber, and crossing it at right angles, is avertical chamber or recess, D, containing a revolving block, O. having aquadrant, or thereabout, cutfrom it, thus forming a space, (I, and twoshoulders, d 61 the space cl sufficing for the reception of one end ofthe coupling-link, which enters it and circumscribes the portion (1 01the block 0 when the coupling is locked.

A transverse passage is further made in the bumper, as shown in thedrawings, for the reception of a locking-bar, D, having two lateralextensions or handles, 0 e, for operating it, and, furthermore, havingan eye, f, extending upward from it and through a hole in the top of thebumper, the purpose of this locking-bar being to drop down into a notch,9, cut in the periphery of the block O and prevent it from beingrevolved within its chamber.

The extremes of movementof the block 0 are stopped by means of a stud,g, situated in the upper part of the chamber D, as seen in Fig. 5 of thedrawings, against which the pro- .jections alternately abut.

Previous to operating the above-described invention the bumpers of thetwo approaching cars are to be placed as nearly on a level as the eye ofthe employ can judge, experience enabling him to determine this withgreat accuracy, and the link will probably enter the approaching bumperwithout further attendance.

In operating the coupling we will suppose the link to be detached fromand approaching the bumper. As it enters the link-chamber it will strikeagainst the side 61 of the space at of the revolving block 0 and revolveit ninety degrees, which will force the portion (1 into the link, and atthe same time the locking-bar will drop into the notch of the block 0and lock the link within the bumper.

To unlock the coupling it is only necessary to raise the locking-bar, asit will readily be seen that any draft upon the link will revolve theblock 0 and cause it to drop below and out of the link and allow it tobe withdrawn.

The bar D may be raised by tilting either of the handles or by raisingthem both, or by means of a chain attached to the eye f and carried tothe top of the car or to any convenient position.

The advantages of my invention are, first,

by being able to adjust the heights of the two bumpers the employ is notrequired to go be tween the cars while they are either approaching eachother to be coupled together, or for the purpose of uncoupling them,asthe handles of the locking-bar may be of such a length as to enable himto reach them from the outside of the car; second, the draft upon thetwo bumpers is always in a straight line between their fulcrum-pins,thus rendering it more uniform and even, requiring less power, and doingaway with the necessity of a crooked link. The strain upon the link isconsequently al- Ways a longitudinal one, which prevents. thepossibility of its being broken, and a very short link can be employed.For use upon passenger-cars this alignment of the two bumpers is animportant feature, as much of the concussion and jarring of the carsconsequent upon the varying heights of the bumpers is obviated.

Another advantage of my invention, and quite an important item in theexpenses of a railroad corporation, is that there is no pin to lose, asit is well known that with the ordinary coupling large numbers of themare annually lost and stolen.

A further advantage consists in the fact that when any repairs arenecessary they can be very easily made, as all the operative parts arein a small compass and at the extreme forward end of the draw-bar. Bymerely removin g the pin they can be easily detached from the draw-bar.l have contemplated applying a spring to the draw-bar, the free end ofwhich is to be inserted in a notch made in the rear end of the lever, asseen in Figs. 9 and 10.

This spring will serve to keep the lever in a

